Been asked to chip in extra cash

ReadySteadyPop

user1977 said:

Do you even know what the cost is for? £1000 doesn't sound like something so serious that the buyer must sort it out immediately. If it's some trivial "defect" which the surveyor has pointed out and can be dealt with in the fullness of time, the answer is definitely no.

(and I'd also have doubts about the chain if the other relevant parties can't scrape together/negotiate £1000 away by themselves!)

Exactly, sounds like a really strange request to me.

eddddy

david29dpo said:

Typical agent, try anything to make sure they get there fee!

Yes - that's what the estate agents are paid to do - get a chain to completion.

Maybe it's better to express it like this "Typical agent, try anything to make sure they get their fee, and to help 4 people sell their homes, and to help 4 people buy their next homes"



FWIW, I suspect it's a bigger issue than one house needing £1k of work... perhaps something like this...

• A buyer in the chain has dropped their offer by, say, £10k - the seller is refusing to accept

• So the estate agents are trying to get the other 4 in the chain to chip in £1k each

• Then the estate agent will say to the seller "can you take £3k less?", and to the buyer "can you pay £3k more", and the offer of £4k from the others in the chain would make up up the £10k

Sparky200004 said:

Good points! I'll forward this to him.

I suspect that the estate agent has already tried many different arguments and angles to get the relevant buyer and seller to agree on a price - that's part of their job.

You'd probably have to be very creative to come up with an idea that the estate agent hasn't already thought of.

(But I'm not sure that I'd be keen to chip in £1k in this situation, on principle.)

saajan_12

ReadySteadyPop said:

Sparky200004 said:

Hi, in a chain of 5 buyers, one person has found they need to do extra work on their new house after a survey. The estate agent phoned and said would we mind chipping in £1000

What happens if the chain collapses anyway for another reason? You won`t get the money back, just ignore the EA and let the seller sort their own problem, their buyer could just drop their offer a bit to cover the work?

Well no, there's no mention of paying the amount upfront. Presumably it would just be adusted in the offer price, so if the chain collapses then no loss. 

Still may or may not be the right decision for other reasons, but lets not scaremonger for the sake of it. 

sheramber

Is it £1000 total or is it £1000 from each person in the chain?

Beeblebr0x

The party whose property needs work doing to it should revise the selling price if they want to keep their buyer. It's not anyone else's problem.

silvercar

saajan_12 said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

Sparky200004 said:

Hi, in a chain of 5 buyers, one person has found they need to do extra work on their new house after a survey. The estate agent phoned and said would we mind chipping in £1000

What happens if the chain collapses anyway for another reason? You won`t get the money back, just ignore the EA and let the seller sort their own problem, their buyer could just drop their offer a bit to cover the work?

Well no, there's no mention of paying the amount upfront. Presumably it would just be adusted in the offer price, so if the chain collapses then no loss. 

Still may or may not be the right decision for other reasons, but lets not scaremonger for the sake of it. 

If the offer prices change then everyone needs to notify their solicitors, who will notify the lenders.

jimbog

Negotiate. Offer £500 and ask for all the estate agents in the chain to forgo £500 of their commissions to keep the chain intact 

Sparky200004

sheramber said:

Is it £1000 total or is it £1000 from each person in the chain?

From each person, I don't think people in the chain are going to go for it.

Bigphil1474

It's not a normal request, but it's something I'd consider depending how desperate I was to move. If you're buying a £500k house, £1k isn't much to quibble about. If it's a £100k house, then it's probably a bigger deal. People often starting worrying over nothing when they see a survey report, but presumably this isn't nothing? I'd be asking the EA what the money is actually for first, then deciding. 

sheramber

Beeblebr0x said:

The party whose property needs work doing to it should revise the selling price if they want to keep their buyer. It's not anyone else's problem.

If everyone is keen  to move and not lose money on costs  already incurred, it might be their choice.

In the case I knew of, that was certainly the case. 

Just like someone being prepared to pay over the value of a house because they are keen to buy that house.